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Rotating Machinery

At the heart of many manufacturing processes is the critical rotating equipment. Profitability hinges on effective specification, procurement and installation of new equipment, troubleshooting existing equipment, best in class maintenance practices, and bringing the best technical resources to support your rotating equipment operating reliably between major maintenance intervals. And then, when maintenance is required, having the best resources to effectively plan and execute this work in a cost effective, timely manner is essential, while at the same time providing years of reliable operation.

The Becht Machinery Division has extensive expertise and experience in rotating equipment and turbomachinery. Our wealth of knowledge and experience enables us to provide comprehensive, practical, knowledge based answers to solve your problems. Our Becht Machinery team primarily come from large world class operating company technical careers in the oil & gas and petrochemical industry, with most having 35 to 50 years of experience. This level of experience enables us to deliver on our company motto “We Solve Problems – Engineering From an Owner’s Perspective”.

With our extensive experience base, the Becht Machinery Division is able to deliver the following services:

The Becht team offers a comprehensive, holistic approach to your rotating equipment troubleshooting needs. Our experts not only offer machinery expertise, but also are knowledgeable in process operations, instrumentation and controls and electrical systems when assessing an equipment issue. Bringing this holistic approach to your machinery problems provides optimum, effective results. Based on most of our staff experience coming from top quartile owner, operating companies, Becht offers a unique advantage to troubleshooting your machinery problems – we have been there ourselves.

Unfortunately, even with the best plans, sometimes the unexpected happens. Failure investigations are a key element of the Becht Machinery Division services. Not only does our team bring world class equipment expertise, but we also bring a structured RCFA (Root Cause Failure Analysis) approach which allows us to harness that expertise, in partnership with owner supplied team members, to very effectively identify the root cause of failures and develop solutions to eliminate future failures.

Also, our Becht multi-discipline team approach to failure investigations not only brings machinery experts to your equipment failure, but we also have a staff of materials experts and various discipline SME’s to be part of our failure investigation teams. Additionally, the Machinery Division team brings a full suite of advanced engineering analysis tools to help identify the root cause and also design solutions.

Additionally, our team has a wealth of knowledge in turbomachinery performance analysis, machine component, and machinery auxiliary systems condition monitoring. This along with vibration monitoring, provides a complete assessment of your machine condition and ability to proactively plan maintenance activity.

High speed turbomachinery necessitates a thorough understanding of the machines lateral and torsional rotordynamic behavior to ensure long term safe and reliable operation. Not only is this essential when specifying, or procuring new equipment, but it is also important in any machinery re-rates, or rotating equipment component upgrades. Becht engineers are intimately aware of and share the end-users concerns about ensuring safe, predictable machine behaviour and high reliability.

Becht offers both review of OEM and 3rd party lateral and torsional rotordynamics analysis, but also offers in-house rotordynamic analysis capability, based on client need. In our experience, an independent lateral and torsional rotordynamic analysis is often the only way to identify errors or oversights in the vendor’s analysis, which are not uncommon. Overlooking turbomachinery rotordynamic behavior, or incomplete/incorrect rotordynamic analysis can result in a protracted “crisis” situation, which is often not readily corrected without major re-design. The resulting schedule delays and lost production can adversely limit plant operation and project profitability. Close attention to machine lateral and torsional rotordynamic behavior is essential to achieving trouble-free reliable high speed machinery operation.

As existing assets age, invariably the need arises to increase capacity, or change process operating conditions as debottlenecking efforts seek ever increasing plant capacity. As part of these plant debottlenecking projects, turbomachinery becomes an important element to consider. Review of your existing rotating equipment should come early in the project as they can be both costly, and also involve long lead items, particularly if significant upgrade capabilities are required.

The Becht Machinery team has the experience to work with you in the very early conceptual stages to provide a summary of options, life cycle cost analysis, and experience based recommendations to guide this important decision.

Additionally, once the preferred upgrade option is identified, the Becht team has the depth of experience to work as your subject matter expert throughout the project, including specification, bid review, inspection and testing, installation and finally commissioning and startup.

Often turbomachinery OEM’s are engaged to help troubleshoot, participate in root cause failure investigations, or provide engineering assessment and recommendations for your existing rotating equipment. After all, who should know your equipment better than the OEM?

When the results and recommendations provided by the OEM are business critical and involve significant safety or business risk, the need to be absolutely certain of your path forward is very important. In these situations, the Becht team brings years of industry experience to an independent, 3rd party review of the analysis. Not only can Becht provide an expert “cold eyes” review of other company’s analysis, but often can provide our own analysis to validate results and recommendations.

When the decision is critical, and you may be even slightly uncertain, Becht offers the capability to have an independent, unbiased, 3rd party cold eyes review.

Becht Fitness For Service

We are organized to quickly and efficiently handle all levels of Fitness-For-Service assessments including rapid response to emergency situations where quick assessments are required to keep a plant running or when damage is found.

For immediate response, contact our FFS coordinator, Magnus Gustafsson (click to email / phone at 571-550-0722) or complete the form. Your form request will go to Mr. Gustafsson, as well as our President, Chuck Becht and General Manager, John Basil.

A quick response is guaranteed!

Finite Element Analysis

Becht Engineering has developed a reputation as one of the premier providers of Design-By-Analysis services. We have a deep reservoir of staff that perfrom finite element analysis using commercial programs such as ABAQUS, ANSYS, SolidWorks and products of Paulin Research Group. Types of analysis include linear and nonlinear analysis, stress, heat transfer and dynamics including seismic.

Given the many analytical tools available, we are able to choose the most efficient and cost-effective tool for the task at hand; for example, we frequently use non-linear analysis to develop more efficient equipment designs and/or to demonstrate that existing equipment is fit for service. Our extensive code expertise enables us to provide authoritative interpretations of the analysis results. Our experts include such frequently published engineers as Greg Hollinger, Trevor Seipp, and Dr. Charles Becht.